Mageia 3 review, sort of, not

Updated: October 28, 2013

A lot of you emailed me, asking me, why the heck wouldn't I review Mageia, what's my problem, and such. Well, I would, honest miss, but the problem is, this distribution does not want to cooperate with my hardware.

Ever since version 1, which was okay but nothing stellar, no subsequent edition would boot. Tried on my T61 test box, the system would simply hang even before it reached the desktop, no matter what I did, no matter what media I used. Then, recently, I had my older LG laptop sort of rejuvenated, and it now hosts Kubuntu quite happily, and it even booted Fedora 19 without any problems, which was being fairly naughty on the other laptop. Let's see what happens there, shall we.

No luck

Nope. Mageia wouldn't boot on this box either. I tried two different USB sticks, and had the image written using three different tools, including Universal USB Pendrive, UNetbootin and USB Writer. I even burned a DVD, tried both the internal and an external tray. No luck whatsoever.

I considered trying the distro in a virtual machine, but that would be pointless, really. Why bother? Anyhow, Mageia is a no-go, and this seems almost like a pattern. But then, if you read more carefully, I-am-alpha-male-quality Fedora had a similar issue, and this turned out to be a 100% glitch in the operating system, and now that it's been fixed, it works like a champ. Since we're talking about a bleeding user, I mean edge, distro, then every other system should be capable of the same simple feat.

So to answer some questions

I have collected a bunch of responses and comments around the Web, directed at Dedoimedo, over the matter of Mageia and alike. So no I am not a noob. Second, there's nothing wrong with my hardware, dozens upon dozens of other distributions have all booted with success, so it's not me or my metal you should blame. Three, if you have reading comprehension problems or just generic anger toward the world, it's not my fault.

Four, I have nothing against Mageia. In fact, I would LOVE to review it, but the friggin' thing just won't boot, and it pisses me off, and it just spoiled my morning, and now I have to beat my wife again, and look what you've done.

Instead ...

Like the last time, since you wasted a bunch of minutes reading this crap, then at least you can enjoy a handful of nice photos of the Multnomah Falls. There you go.

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Conclusion

Honestly, I have nothing against Mageia. I want to review this distro, and I am so frustrated by its stubborn refusal to boot on pretty much any of my machines. Well, at least those dedicated to testing, that is. But if all other major systems can achieve that, then there's no reason why Mageia should be an exception.

I will try to work with the developers, to see if we can somehow resolve this problem. For the time being, except for the extremely troublesome start, I really have little to say about the distribution. I don't even know what Mageia 3 looks like, except the shots you can views around the Web, in other reviews. So for now, grade: NA. See ya.

Cheers.